Writing wrongs

Last week David Baddiel, Fay Weldon, Will Self, Andrew Motion and others told us whether they think creative writing is well taught at UK universities. Our readers had plenty to say about this

Sadly, it's mainly a way universities and other institutions have of making money. It's cheap – employ hard-up poets or novelists looking for a sinecure for a nominal sum, hoover up fees from aspirational students, and the institution is quids in. Whether it makes writers any better is moot.

apatheticzealot via EducationGuardian.co.uk

•Teaching creativity is an oxymoron; something taught must exist, something creative must be new.

acommenter via EducationGuardian.co.uk

• Interesting to see the refrain about only published novelists being capable of working with students. My experience as a student is that having a tutor with a published book is no guarantee of their being pedagogically sound, but is much more likely to predispose the writer/teacher to liking the sound of their own voice. One tutor on my MA used to race through the discussion of students' work in order to do such things as show us the covers of his novels and, in a low point, distribute reviews of his own work. Surely there should be more interest in the teaching ability and methods of writers, rather than just the size of their backlist.

wittgensteinsmonkey via EducationGuardian.co.uk

Schoolbag marketing

What an indictment of his establishment that the principal of Cleethorpes academy distributes information on private educational support outside school instead of telling parents not to waste their money (A message on headed notepaper, 10 May). Shouldn't he be providing support during the school day, unless of course he lacks confidence in his own staff to deliver it? My children were fortunate enough to attend a comprehensive school that meant what it said on the label and their needs were addressed in house. There was no need to fill the coffers of private tuition businesses; all that was needed were politicians and local communities supportive of their comprehensive schools.

Mike Willson

Southwick, West Sussex

• I get enough spam already. I don't expect to find it in my child's school bag. What a sad, cynical world where our children are used in this fashion.

emale9 via EducationGuardian.co.uk

Beauty and buildings

"At the end of the day, it's what goes on in the building that matters," said the Surrey head whose school is in an historic building (£1,000 for one flagstone, 10 May).

One of the many sicknesses in our society is that so many citizens rarely get to experience aesthetically positive surroundings. The wealthiest in society constantly enjoy the uplifting benefits of historic and beautiful surroundings, at home, at school and at our ancient universities. Schooling in an historic building also gives pupils a physical resource in which to bring the teaching of history (amongst other subjects) truly alive.

Sam Gibson

Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire

Millions badly spent

How did public schools acquire charitable status (Opinion, 10 May)? Some were established in the Middle Ages by generous benefactors, their aim not to educate the poor, but the "sons of dec'yed gentlemen". In Victorian times, case law established a highly questionable interpretation of "public benefit".

Through claiming "charitable" status public schools are able to garner millions in tax exemptions. If this tax could be reclaimed by the state it could be spent on the 93% of pupils in the state sector.